London Spitfire Win Overwatch Stage 1 Playoffs

London's comeback is worthy of a spit-take

By
Shabana Arif

The Stage 1 playoffs of the Overwatch League are over and London Spitfire emerged victorious, beating the top-seeded New York Excelsior with a 3-2 reverse sweep on Saturday. London ended the first half down 0-2, but turned things around in the second half for their 3-2 comeback.

The first game of the day saw London and New York face off, with Excelsior winning 3-2. Spitfire went on to play the Houston Outlaws, winning 3-1, and found themselves facing New York again. After losses on Junkertown and Oasis, London entered Hoizon Lunar Colony in need of a miracle.

"Losing the first two maps, we thought, 'Hey, we couldn't let it end like this,'" Spitfire tank Hong 'Gesture' Jae-Hee told ESPN. "We rallied back and won a game. After that, we were like, 'Hey, it's 2-1. Might as well.'"

They won another game on the fourth map, Numbani, and completed their reverse sweep on Dorado.

"I’m beyond proud of our team," said London Spitfire CEO, Jack Etienne, on Twitter. "They headed to the studio at 8AM played 14 maps over the next 14 hours against extremely skilled opponents and walked away with the W."

With Stage 1 over, London gets a breather before Stage 2 kicks off on February 21.